Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Tony Tanner | ... | Little Chap |
Millicent Martin | ... | Evie / Anya / Ara / Ginnie | |
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Leila Croft | ... | Susan |
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Valerie Croft | ... | Jane |
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Neil Hawley | ... | Little Little Chap |
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Graham Lyons | ... | Father-in-Law |
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Georgina Allen | ... | Dancer / Singer |
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Natasha Ashton | ... | Dancer / Singer |
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Sandra Burville | ... | Dancer / Singer |
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Carlotta Barrow | ... | Dancer / Singer |
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Vivyen Dunbar | ... | Dancer / Singer |
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Katherina Holden | ... | Dancer / Singer (as Katerina Holden) |
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Margaret Frost | ... | Dancer / Singer |
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Ann Holloway | ... | Dancer / Singer |
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Liz Gold | ... | Dancer / Singer |
The lead in a British semi-improvisational musical theater troupe introduces the troupe's featured players - his wife, two adult daughters and adolescent son - as they rehearse for their next performance. That performance tells the story of Little Chap, a working class stiff, who marries the boss' daughter Evie because she is pregnant. He wouldn't have married her otherwise. As Evie is the boss' daughter, Little Chap, over the course of thirty-five years, is given opportunity after opportunity to enhance his professional life by his new father-in-law. In turn, Little Chap, being opportunistic, builds upon those experiences to try and be fulfilled both professionally and personally, rarely taking Evie and his burgeoning family into consideration despite the fact that they love him. At the end of those thirty-five years, he comes to an understanding of who he is and why he made the decisions in his life that he did. Written by Huggo
My wife and I put on our old VHS copy the other night (having not seen it for many years) and once more became totally absorbed in the production and Tony Tanner's performance. Some have called it outdated but it's pure theater with a theater-type experience as best as could be reproduced on screen. "World's" brilliance is that it's simple story combined with a magnificent score can hold audience captivated, no small achievement considering it is done in mime and soliloquy and performed within the confines of a small circular one-ring circus-type stage with no elaborate settings.
Just magnificent, not matter what generation.